Things may be different in the Middle East but since the launch of Apple's iPad the phrase "this is a Gutenberg moment" (or, for Gutenberg-sceptics "this is not as much of a Gutenberg moment as some people might think") has become part of common parlance in New York.
The phrase refers to Johannes Gutenberg's rollout of the first printing press in the 1450s.
Fortunately, the online magazine Slate's business and finance section, The Big Money, organised a conference recently where participants could make up their own minds about the future of the publishing industry in the tablet age.
The bigwigs of publishing were out in force, which in itself was a bit disconcerting. The first speaker was Don Graham, the 65-year-old chairman and chief executive of The Washington Post. He is an avid fan of Amazon's e-reader, the Kindle, and has had one since it first came out in 2007. He extols its virtues: he can read The Post even when he's in Phoenix, Arizona and he can read any book on it wherever he is: it is, in effect, a portable library. The appeal for expatriates is obvious: you no longer have to wait to get home to buy the books you want, or wait weeks for parcels of books to arrive by post: you can read anything you want to, instantly, wherever you are. And out-of-print books are suddenly not only available but often, if they're more than 75 years old and out of copyright, free. "You get great access on Kindle," Mr Graham points out. "Better than any bookstore."
He also alerted the audience to another advantage of digital reading, which is that "it neatly solves the problem every reader knows about ? " I had no idea what he was going to say next but it turns out he was talking about type size. Older readers, who aren't trendy or hip or the target of major marketing efforts, need large type size and tablets can solve that problem simply and elegantly. No longer do you have to borrow books from the special large-print section of the local library: you can read any text on your tablet in as large or small a font as you want. It was an interesting insight into who the target audience of tablets and e-readers should be because another thing about the elderly Mr Graham is he gives the distinct impression that he actually reads. Which is more than I can say for many much younger tech geeks, who think anything worth saying can be conveyed in a Tweet or a Facebook post.
I've owned an iPad since they came out in the US in April and I would add that it's also great for work: I no longer have to flick through books, looking for the section that's relevant to whatever I'm researching. The search function will find it for me instantly. That could have saved me a lot of time when I was writing essays back at university. On the downside, it's not great taking a piece of equipment I've paid US$700 (Dh2,571) for down to the pool. It's also hard to see the screen outside in the sunshine, which is just the place where many people want to relax and read.
So perhaps books won't change all that much. But one or two things did become clear from listening to people talk at the conference. First, as Sarah Rotman Epps, a very convincing analyst at Forrester Research pointed out, by 2015, desktop PCs will still be the single most used device. The number of tablets is projected to go up as well but in five years there are still unlikely to be as many in use as there are smartphones. But even if they're not taking over the world, they have nonetheless fundamentally changed our approach, in particular by establishing the centrality of applications (apps) as a way of getting information. So far, apps have been mainly used on iPhones and iPads but their use is already spreading back to PCs. The US bookstore Barnes and Noble has seen more than a million downloads of its e-reader app on to ordinary computers.
"The future is app-centric and multi-platform," Ms Rotman Epps predicted. "We don't see any single device winning out." Which creates a problem for book publishers, newspapers and other media companies in terms of planning. "When I talk to clients I get a lot of comments like 'how is it going to be profitable for us to develop something that is going to have, in itself, very little adoption?' And there is no easy answer," she said. "But that is the future. You have to figure out how to make it work. Each platform will garner, potentially, a small amount of readers."
Which might explain why all the publishing bigwigs, including Carolyn Reidy, the president and chief executive of Simon and Schuster, and Brian Murray, the president and chief executive of HarperCollins, in spite of all their talk about how exciting things are for them, gave the impression of being distinctly nervous. You could pour a tonne of money into developing a certain product for a certain device and it can come to nothing. There was a particularly sad panel featuring makers of e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook and the Sony Reader. Why, asked Farhad Manjoo, the Slate technology columnist who was interviewing them, would anyone buy an e-reader when you could buy an iPad or tablet on which you can not only read but do a lot of other things besides?
Ms Epps predicted e-readers might survive as cheap devices, like the DVD players people take on to planes. So perhaps all the money Amazon spent on the Kindle won't go directly down the drain.
But who knows, really, what's going to happen? At the end of the conference, chief executives guessed how many more e-books would be sold than normal books within five years. Mr Murray estimated as much as 40 to 50 per cent. "I keep revising up," he said. Ms Reidy said she'd thought 25 per cent but was also revising up, although perhaps not quite to 40 per cent. Needless to say, everyone seemed slightly in awe of the rate of change.
Much depends on how millions of people around the world behave and how they will choose to read in future. And that's something they probably don't even know themselves just yet. One thing is for sure, though: technology is a great leveller. The five men presenting their nifty applications in a panel entitled Meet the Apps had a certain swagger about them, as did Tom Turvey, a director at Google, which also plans to start selling e-books later this year. But the publishers who once controlled the gate to writers' fame and fortune seemed as clueless as anyone else in the room.
business@thenational.ae
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Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
The%20Specs%20
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Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
TUESDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 2pm:
Elina Svitolina (UKR) [3] v Jennifer Brady (USA)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) v Belinda Bencic (SUI [4]
Not before 7pm:
Sofia Kenin (USA) [5] v Elena Rybakina (KAZ)
Maria Sakkari (GRE) v Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) [7]
Court One
Starting at midday:
Karolina Muchova (CZE) v Katerina Siniakova (CZE)
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR)
Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) v Dayana Yastermska (UKR)
Petra Martic (CRO) [8] v Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) v Anett Kontaveit (EST)
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
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Tips for newlyweds to better manage finances
All couples are unique and have to create a financial blueprint that is most suitable for their relationship, says Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at Century Financial. He offers his top five tips for couples to better manage their finances.
Discuss your assets and debts: When married, it’s important to understand each other’s personal financial situation. It’s necessary to know upfront what each party brings to the table, as debts and assets affect spending habits and joint loan qualifications. Discussing all aspects of their finances as a couple prevents anyone from being blindsided later.
Decide on the financial/saving goals: Spouses should independently list their top goals and share their lists with one another to shape a joint plan. Writing down clear goals will help them determine how much to save each month, how much to put aside for short-term goals, and how they will reach their long-term financial goals.
Set a budget: A budget can keep the couple be mindful of their income and expenses. With a monthly budget, couples will know exactly how much they can spend in a category each month, how much they have to work with and what spending areas need to be evaluated.
Decide who manages what: When it comes to handling finances, it’s a good idea to decide who manages what. For example, one person might take on the day-to-day bills, while the other tackles long-term investments and retirement plans.
Money date nights: Talking about money should be a healthy, ongoing conversation and couples should not wait for something to go wrong. They should set time aside every month to talk about future financial decisions and see the progress they’ve made together towards accomplishing their goals.